John Major's grandson is severely autistic - another good piece from the Mail [shock]

[WendyWeber]

Harry

It is well-written and appears to be reasonably sound on facts too (unlike the Colin Farrell Angelman's/CP thing )

Emma Noble sounds fab!

Whether or not it is the whole story it is great to hear stories about people accepting autism as a condition and being positive and upbeat.

Agree - unfair to judge the grandparents on the basis of this article. Inlaw - grandparent relationships can often be very difficult for many reasons. We have no way of knowing what the actual truth behind the relationship and why is.

And the article does say that the GP do have the child round to saty at times, as well as sending him postcards - so they aren't totally neglecting him. This seems a lot more than some GP do, esp in some of the separated parent scenarios I have known about.

Hi, first post here.

Initially when I read this I thought, wow, Emma Noble seems a lovely Mum, far nicer than I would have expected given what little I knew of her from media reports years ago. Then I thought about what she said, and how very carefully she said it, and I'm afraid it's pretty clear to me that her comments have been meticulously scripted by her PR. The last time I recall her being in the media was when she was separating from James, and IIRC she didn't come over that well - in fact I don't think she was ever a media darling, was she? Perhaps now she wants to get back into the media again and so this is her way of raising her image. After all why else is she doing this interview? I don't think it was supposed to be particularly to support autism, was it? If it was I think she would have gone into more detail about signs to look for, etc.

Before I get flamed for being a cynical old bat, I'm not saying that she isn't a good mum - she may well be a wonderful mum - however, this article doesn't really tell me anything apart from what her PR wants me to think.

I agree to some extent with Surfingmum - that Emma Noble's comments were very carefully done, so could well have been with aid of PR. BUT seeing as she's donating the interview fee to the NAS, and spoke in some detail about her son's early signs of ASD, I think she's definitely done her bit for ASD awareness etc.

and she donated the proceeds of some awful reality show she did to NAS too. Think that speaks volumes.

I think that this is a lovely article. I think tht the most important part of it is how well Emma expresses her love for Harry and that she would not wish that he did not have ASD. It seems to be a common experience of parents of children with SN that others believe that they love their children less than they would a NT child.I think this articles makes it clear that that is not the case and is worthwhile for that alone.

Very interesting that her sister is a clinical psychologist, makes me think that Emma may be cleverer than she looks/behaved when she was younger and also makes me think that Harry is likely to have had excellent help.

Call me a cynic but she comes across as a media savvy ex-glamour girl wanting to restart a career of some sort due to having an erratic ex-husband with little sense of responsibility. Her dress chosen for the photoshoot was hardly mummsyish was it ?

Ruty said she was shocked that the grandparents don't do more to help. Her ex-husband's parents apparently have Harry to stay when they can and his grandfather (who is a busy man) apparently sends him postcards from whatever country he happens to be in. Sounds like they are involved thoughtful and caring but probably still active in public life to a certain extent which will limit their free-time.

I think the only one who looks "flaky" here is James Major but surely she realised he was a bit unpredictable when he married her.

Several people have commented that "she sounds lovely" Job well done from her PR people then.

CYNIC!

Oh wow - fantastic article but did make me sob a bit as brought back the memories of when my Harry lost his speech, as he also had regressive language loss.

there's a BIBIC poster as well that says 'imagine the pain of waiting for your child to say I Love You'- that also reduces me to tears, he can do it now but it took so much longer. But then we get it relatively lightly of course.

Thanks for the link.

Surf - she states in the article that she is needing to go back to work so yes it probably is just the PR machine. but if it helps get her feet back into the limelight but also raises awarness and takes some of teh stigma away from autism then i am all for it

I think Fio puts it very well.

Nobody could love their kids mroe than I, but after ds1's HFA diagnosis I completely collapsed- to the point where I completely lost it with an acquaintance in public over something pitifullys mall. When we were told 6 montsh later that DS3 is probably ASD, I still ahdn't recovered my equilibrium, and tbh really became very low. Its fairly recently i've pulle dout of it, and my experience doesn't seem to be that far off the norm.

imagine the headline if she said any of that, though, Fio. 'Topless mother of ex-PM's disabled grandchild wishes he'd never been born', i reckon. so she's got to choose her words Very Carefully Indeed and if that's with the help of a PR then so be it. i'm a bit meh about all the cynicism, i bet she's had the media on her case about this for years, and she didn't slate her in-laws, which the journos would have been desperate to get her to do. they wouldn't have been happy with her faint praise, that's not the story they were after.

x-posts with fio.

Having read this, just wanted to ask about some of the things HArry did.

Such as taking her hand and leading her places instead of asking, and twirling round on the spot. My ds does these things all the time. But that doesn't mean he's autistic does it?

it isn't exactly a thought provoking article, but I think anything that gets people talking and thinking about SN is a good thing....(so I agree with Mamazon there)

I agree with Fiofio, the sadness at having a child with SN is very real (well it is for me)...

I really cannot give a toss about the celeb gossip angle of it all....

PP not at all, but cobined with other factors- eg (for my Harry) absences, social problems, langauge disorders- then a apediatrician would certainly consider them worth investigating. Taking and leading to instead of pointing is fairly classic (but not always present)- but its a lot of things together that suggest ASD, not just one or two things, iyswim?

I'd forgotten the woman even existed after the hoo-ha of their separation dropped out of the papers. Full marks to her for bringing autism to the forefront even if it is to help her go back to work - perhaps now some celebrities do talk about their sn children, there'll be more help and understanding for other less famous children with the same condition. I think that that's the best way to look at this interviews.

i know you weren't meaning they write a negative angle, but knowing what i do about my business, that's what the Mail would have been wanting and they would have made it as negative as possible with the slimmest of reasons. particularly the sub-editors, the people who write the headlines. that's why the Colin F one had contradictory headline and copy, journalists and subs are not the same (species ).
so she's been pretty canny about the whole thing, from what i can see, clever girl, must have trod the line well.

I read it and thought it was a good article. I do remember the girl, mostly from that awful see through dress she wore to an awards with james Major. It doesnt sound like the Majors are too closely involved with the child though. If Emma Noble gets some work from her name in the papers, thats excellent. If people read this story and learn about Autism that is also excellent. Having a child with Special needs is extremly hard work and if this girl makes some money for her and her son then good luck to her.

very good points Fio and Peachy. I wasn't really expecting too much reality to be honest from the daily Mail, i mean looking at the pics of her done up flawlessly kind of showed how much PR were involved. I just thought it was quite good for its type, IYKWIM. Not on the edge journalism of course.